…and back to the sun again.
- Idaho bill targeting repeat drunken drivers killed. Kind of a good idea, but don’t know how truly effective it would be.
- Even Republicans don’t think that Republicans have a leader. I think they are trying to see how fast it’ll take to move their party into nether regions of obscurity.
- How the cell phone service oligopoly is robbing us blind. Come on kids, that’s the “free market” at play — the idea that competition will create a better value for the consumer has to be one of the biggest frauds of the last 100 years. When I was living in Korea all the cell phone plans were pay-as-you-go — and if you were out of minutes you could still receive calls and send & receive text messages. It was quite a functional and efficient way to have a cell phone. Here? Nosomuch. Along with paying too much for sloooow “broadband”, paying too much for a cell phone kinda pisses me off.
- “The Idaho Statesman Facing “Dramatic” Layoff”. The post makes a good point; on Sunday there were 4 op-eds in the Statesman, all from people right of the political spectrum. And to top it off, two of them were from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and a third was someone who stands to benefit from the work of the IFF. I hate to see any newspaper have to make cuts, but let’s face it, they’ve made a bed and now they are going to be laying in it.
- Boise launches stimulus tracking website. You can check it out here. If there is one thing that can destroy a political structure it is transparency. Hence, you won’t see the State of Idaho embracing it anytime soon.
- I’ll be checking this out today: This American Life Explains the Financial Crisis in 59 Minutes.
- Culinary adventures in the City of Tree talks Mesa Taqueria.
- Idaho Statesman: Road projects have a friend in the governor.
- Right-tard tuff’ guy Chuck Norris: a revolution is ‘a comin’. Man up and see how far ya make it, Chucky. It’s funny, Liberals lose an election and they make empty threats to move to Canada. Conservatives lose an election and they want to get all gunny on their fellow American citizens. Did I say that’s funny? Oy…
- A good example as to why the media’s move to be gossip-based is a bad thing for those of us who crave real news.
You're not the only person to question Sunday's Insight content. The Briana LeClaire guest opinion regarding charter schools was a response to a Sunday guest opinion criticizing charter schools.
The Tom Luna guest opinion was a response to an editorial (and my column) criticizing his plans for use of stimulus dollars. I believe it was appropriate — and fair — to run these responses on Sunday.
When I get a reader complain about one day's Opinion content — whether they consider it too conservative or too liberal — I often ask them to keep track of what they see over a week, two weeks or a month. What they will see is a section that presents a variety of views and opinions, from across the political spectrum.
As for Wayne Hoffman's weekly column, he made a proposal to the paper some months ago. We thought he would add something to our section, so we added him to the lineup. In the same vein, we had previously added a monthly column on sustainability and energy issues from John Gardner, a Boise State University associate vice president. Gardner made a proposal. We liked the idea, so we added his column.
I have a standing offer. If someone wants to propose a column that would offer us a unique perspective or insight, send me a proposal. I'll look at it.
Kevin Richert
editorial page editor, Idaho Statesman
Thanks for the response Kevin. I think what bothers most people is that they all appeared in one week, thus creating the perception that the opinion pages are slanted. I can see people having a problem with 75% of the columns being from one ideological viewpoint.
I'm no journalist, and I'm not telling anyone how to do their job but it would seem like a better idea to make sure that the paper is balanced day-to-day, not week-to-week or month-to-month.
"I often ask them to keep track of what they see over a week, two weeks or a month."–sounds like a challenge.
Hmmm, if right of center and far right is "a variety of views and opinions, from across the political spectrum," then yes, the Idaho Statesman is quite thorough about addressing all political viewpoints…
I made the mistake of reading this at lunch. Super Taquiera was one of my favorite spots when I worked in Silicon Valley. Going to have to check out Mesa Taquirea and see how it measures up.
The paranoia from both sides about the media from left and right says nothing about the media. It speaks volumes about the complainers. When the media doesn't spoon feed you what you want to hear, just indict them all as extremists.
I'm starting to worry about reading comprehension on the right.